Activist who started #ObamaAndKids saw 'love and compassion'

When everyone from the first lady to folks in Ireland and South Africa to Cosmopolitan magazine are joining your conversation, you know you've launched a worthwhile one.

Shortly before 8 a.m. Saturday, Michael Skolnik, a New York-based activist and entrepreneur, tweeted a photo by White House photographer Pete Souza of President Obama touching the face of a young boy, who looks up at the president with a gaze that suggests, what: Admiration? Hope? Recognition? We can only guess.

"We'll never truly be able to measure the impact that President @BarackObama has had on our children," Skolnik wrote.

And the tweet took off — thousands of retweets, thousands of favorites.

Skolnik quickly followed up with a second tweet: "I'm feeling a little nostalgic this morning! Tweet me your favorite pics/videos of Obama with kids and I will RT my favorites. #ObamaAndKids"

Within a few hours Twitter was filled with hundreds of photos of the president kissing babies, fist-bumping elementary schoolers, grinning with Girl Scouts, bending down to let a little boy touch his hair, holding hands with just-learning-to-walk toddlers and, of course, hugging his own two daughters. (The first lady tweeted that last one.)

I called Skolnik Sunday morning to see if he had any idea his fit of nostalgia would capture people's interest with such intensity.

"I had no idea," he told me. "I've been involved in many, many social media campaigns where I've spent hours, days, months, conceiving, brainstorming and they fall flat. This one I'm just sitting on my couch with my son on my lap and now it's a worldwide trend. I've seen it mentioned in Nigeria, Kenya, Ireland, South Africa. Two newspapers in Germany wrote about it. It's wild."

Skolnik was at the playground with his son, who's 2, when I called. What is it about kids, I asked him, that makes us sit up and take notice? More than 50 years ago the nation was captivated by photos of President Kennedy's young children. More recently, and more tragically, the Syrian refugee crisis didn't come into full focus for many until the image emerged of the 3-year-old boy drowned off the Turkish coast.

"I think there's a great innocence among children," Skolnik said. "I think whether you're a parent or not you have a tremendous love for the innocence of children.

"I also think this president truly loves kids, and I think kids love him," he continued. "You see him with Native American kids, African-American kids, white kids, girls, boys, and he treats them all with love and compassion."

Many of the kids pictured have no idea they're in the company of a president, Skolnik said. Which only adds to the charm.

"They're just playing with some old guy in some building," he said. "Regardless of your politics, every child responds to a fun adult. And certainly Barack Obama has shown he is that."

Skolnik, 37, was profiled in the New York Times last November, where he was heraled by those who know him for his ability to tap into political, Hollywood and grass-roots power structures to affect social change. He's the political director for media mogul Russell Simmons and he's worked with LeBron James, Jay-Z and other celebrities on numerous civil rights issues.

"What we do every day is try to shift the cultural narrative on issues that we care about," Skolnik told the New York Times.

So I asked him: Did #ObamaAndKids shift the cultural narrative? Even for just a day or two?

"Oddly, yes," he said. "I'm biased. I really believe in Barack Obama as a president, as a man, as a father. And so I hope that as we enter his last year of his presidency we can remember how compassionate he is.

"Does it shift the cultural narrative?" he continued. "I certainly think it tells a story — a very beautiful story of a president and his love for his country, through the eyes of children."

A version of this article appeared in print on February 22, 2016, in the News section of the Chicago Tribune with the headline "Tweet's reach floors activist - Photo of Obama with child draws global response - Balancing Act" —
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